Technical support to promote ecosystem restoration in the context of the EU biodiversity strategy to 2020

The EU biodiversity strategy to 2020 foresees (Target 2) that restoration of 15% of degraded ecosystems will play a significant role in the achievement of the headline target of stopping biodiversity loss and conserving and enhancing ecosystems and their associated ecosystem services.

Restoration actions are also essential if the EU and the individual Member States are going to respect their international commitments. Under action 6a of the EU Biodiversity Strategy, it is foreseen that the Member States, with the assistance of the European Commission, shall, by 2014, develop at national and sub-national levels, Restoration, Prioritization Frameworks (RPFs).

In order to provide the assistance to Member States foreseen in Action 6a of the biodiversity strategy, this contract will enable the Commission to get a better understanding of what is happening in relation to restoration activities and in particular the potential for restoration activities to contribute to economic growth and employment.

To achieve this, this project will:

Identify and describe the different types of restoration activities and the stakeholder groups associated with them.

Assess the current contribution of restoration actions to sustainable and socially cohesive economic growth and employment.

Identify constraints to the development of the restoration sector.

Provide an overview of what does the EU do now to support restoration and what could be done in the future.

Organise a workshop to discuss the preliminary findings with the relevant stakeholders.

Provide conclusions and recommendations in relation to the above mentioned topics.